The Australian government has agreed to give around $1.9 million, $2.57 million AU, in grants to a two-year pilot project aimed at a smart utilities project using blockchain technology.
The project will be set up in the city of Fremantle, in Western Australia. Its project partners, Power Ledger and LandCorp, will be providing an additional $5.68 million AU to the venture. According to Power Ledger’s blog, this pilot is set to find out how cities can use blockchain and data analytics to give power to water and energy systems.
The test is being organized with other technology and academic partners such as Curtin University, Murdoch University, CSIRO, and Cisco.
Curtin University is set to specifically carry out research and regulate project management.
Greg Morrison, a professor at Curtin, says, “We will develop a smart metering, battery storage, and blockchain trading system to allow energy and water efficiencies between critical dispersed infrastructures that would otherwise have required physical co-location.”
The city of Fremantle will manage the development of a 5 MW (megawatt) solar installation.
According to the post, Power Ledger is contributing a platform that will serve as a transactional later for the solar arrays and the model for the community-owned battery. This $1.9 million grant was a part of the Australian government’s smart cities and suburbs program.
Dr. Jemma Green, chairperson and co-founder of Power Ledger states, “we’re excited to break ground on this truly novel project that utilizes blockchain technology to orchestrate sustainable assets.”
This soft launch is anticipated to initiate within the next two months and as stated before, will last for two years.
Featured Image: twitter
